So after playing SC2, SC1 looks so WEIRD.

[RedPineApple]

Anyone else feel like this?
Almost like standing in a dark room for awhile and then suddenly turning on a light.

Like all the workers look huge! And the supply buildings are like skyscrapers!

End rant.

lol

[imdrunkontea]

whoa you're right! the command centers look so small compared to the other buildings...lol

[MillenniumDH]

And the old Battlecruiser looks 10 times cooler now!

[SoFool]

You're comparing a 2D & 3D game? ==

[don]

I have the opposite experience.. I was in the middle of re-playing the SC1 & BW campaign when I first got to play a match VS AI in SC2 beta. And I have been playing both games back and forth for some time now.

At first I felt that SC2b was a graphics revolution compared to SC1 (All except the 3D zealots, I do hope they change them). But after a while, Id rate both of them to be at par with each other aesthetically. Well, SC1 original and SC2b on low graphics settings anyways.

I'm thinking if could play SC2b on ultra with a decent frame rate, it would also wow me at first then my impression would settle back into the same as SC1.

What really strikes me are the UI/pathing/gameplay improvements. I have not played against other players but I feel that I am much better SC2 player than an SCBW one. I love MBS, rallymine, the macro mechanics and the new pathing system.

[horror]

it's like when i first saw/played age of empires 2, after the first one. AoE1 units were SO SMALL, and AoE2 units started taking up the screen...

[Mutiny]

I went back and did a match in the first game earlier, and it felt very... Different. The quality and care seemed to be more obvious. Take the Protoss, their art direction is vastly superior in the first game. Their armor isn't just solid gold plating, and they have markings on the Dragoons and Carriers and Arbiter which I sorely miss. The probes actually hover rather than spit some horrendous trail of blue gas whenever they move. Just little details like that would have been nice to see carried over in the sequel.

But yeah, the command buildings do seem tiny.

[pure.Wasted]

I went back and did a match in the first game earlier, and it felt very... Different. The quality and care seemed to be more obvious. Take the Protoss, their art direction is vastly superior in the first game. Their armor isn't just solid gold plating, and they have markings on the Dragoons and Carriers and Arbiter which I sorely miss. The probes actually hover rather than spit some horrendous trail of blue gas whenever they move. Just little details like that would have been nice to see carried over in the sequel.

But yeah, the command buildings do seem tiny. xD

That's not evidence of "quality and care" or a "vastly superior art direction." It's just random bits and pieces that you have a subjective predisposition towards; someone disliking any of the things you noted may be both plausible and warranted. The camo-markings on the Carrier, for one, are inexplicable and completely random. Is there some Protoss guy who walks around Carrier factories spray-painting these elaborate mile-long ships? I wonder.

The Protoss art direction in SC2 is much more cohesive and coherent. For one thing, the Egyptian motif that was introduced in the race's SC1 concept art is carried through to its conclusion. The split between High Templar and Dark Templar technologies is another idea (yellow Corsair, anyone? How's that for "quality and care"?) that has been handled much better this time around. Or Dark Templar that don't look like clones of Zeratul (again, quality? They officially ran out of time to make it). That's just the big things. The small things are a case of misplaced nostalgia, nothing more.

[Wankey]

I have a feeling Starcraft 1 was still better designed. I like how the units are the main focus and the buildings are small and out of the way. Like who cares that I can easily click my command center, I have problems click individual SCVs in SC2 because they are just so tiny.



Also notice that the addons are pretty big, nearly 2/3 of the size of the command center. Another great example of how importance is used.



Here, the art direction seems cleaner but everything seems to be competing for your attention. The buildings are huge! It makes the battleground feel a lot smaller. For instance, at a glance you can't even tell that SCVs are in the picture (off to the right)

Another thing I didn't get about SCVs is how they colored them completely team color. Why not give them a metallic sheen, but then again Samwise decided that Terran uses concrete as a metallic substitute.

[Aldrius]

I kinda like both for completely different reasons.

But it's hard for me to be objective I can't really play the game on higher settings much at all.